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12/01/2016 11:00 PMThe teams in the North Haven Youth Football program recently completed their regular seasons and there were victories to go around for all of the Indians’ squads.
North Haven’s 8th-grade team kept busy by playing four recent contests and went 2-2 in that stretch. North Haven took a 26-0 loss to Guilford and a 12-8 defeat versus Shelton, but bounced back to defeat Manchester 36-27 and earn a 24-0 shutout over Wallingford.
In the Guilford loss, Chris Bracale, Matt Gargano, Justin Perillie, Jake Ferraro, and Hayden Tomlin helped move the chains for an Indians’ offense that was led by Geno Schiavo. On defense, North Haven was bolstered by the play of James Yoshua, Alex DeJesus, and Tyler Vertrano.
In its next game, North Haven lost a hard-fought battle to Shelton by a 12-8 final. Patrick Lillis, Damian Carrano, and Anthony Rapuano led the rushing attack. The Indians’ offensive line was like a blocking machine as Anthony Vigliotti, Vinny Granata, Max Foley, Sean Sullivan, Ryan Ziaks, Anthony Verillo, Shamar Moore, Aaron Barbiero, Mason Sullivan, Art Cross, and Amir Zureiqi opened holes for the backs all day. David Pace, Sean Fenton, James Loda, Hayden Tomlin, and Taray Smart led the defensive effort for North Haven.
The Indians got back in the win column by beating Manchester 36-27. Carrano started the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run and, after a fumble recovery by Joe Verillo, Carrano ran 30 yards for his second score of the day. Then following Smart’s interception, Pace scored on an 8-yard TD run for the Indians. Smart added a 5-yard touchdown rush and Pace later scored on a 27-yard TD rush. Chase DeCarlo had three extra point conversions for North Haven. Loda played well on special teams, twice pinning Manchester inside its 15-yard line.
North Haven made it two straight by blanking Wallingford 24-0. Carrano scored on TD runs of 55 and 56 yards, while Rapuano took home a 70-yard touchdown run. DeCarlo was once again good on all three extra points for the Indians, who received key stops on defense from Lillis, Yoshua, and Gargano.
Meanwhile, North Haven’s 7th-grade team stands at 4-3 after winning two of its three recent games. The Indians beat Branford 31-6, lost to Glastonbury 22-7, and then dispatched Madison by a 26-8 final.
Against Branford, Sebastian DeRubeis opened the scoring with a 64-yard touchdown run and the Indians were on their way at Vanacore Field. Luca Onofrio later found Michael Bachmann on a 60-yard scoring pass and it was 12-0 after the first quarter. Ryan Balzano’s 1-yard TD rush made it 18-0 at halftime. In the third quarter, Balzano tossed a 55-yard touchdown to Matteo Crisanti and it was 24-0. North Haven closed the scoring on a 5-yard TD run from Bachmann and an extra point by Matt Dodge for the 31-6 win. The Indians’ defense was led by strong efforts by MJ DeVilliers, Stephen DiCristina, Stephen Loda, Johnny Appleby, and Nicholas Bracale.
In the Glastonbury defeat, Bachmann recorded North Haven’s lone scored on a 1-yard TD rush that made it 8-7 at halftime before Glastonbury scored the last two touchdowns.
In the Madison victory, North Haven’s defense allowed a touchdown on the second play from scrimmage, but then kept the Tigers off the board the rest of the way. Bachmann had a 75-yard scoring rush that cut the deficit to 8-6 at halftime, after which North Haven dominated the second half. First, Bachmann had a 1-yard TD run that was followed by Dominic Amasino’s 2-point conversion kick to put the Indians up 14-8. After that, DeRubeis broke numerous tackles on his way to a 23-yard touchdown run and a 20-8 advantage. Bachmann’s 49-yard touchdown scamper closed out the 26-8 victory. Kennyel Santiago and DeRubeis had interceptions at key moments in the victory. Bracale, Crisanti, Aiden Rapuano, Loda, Cole DeCusati, Joe Piper, Brendan Jooss, Riley Sykes, Nick Judd, and Matt Cocco were among the other Indians that led the team to the win.
Additionally, North Haven’s 5th-graders took a 19-12 loss to Shelton to move to 2-3 on the year. North Haven played a great game, but let up a touchdown in the fourth quarter to give Shelton the lead. Adam Pandolfi recorded two touchdowns on the day, scoring on a 60-yard run and a 50-yard catch from Brendan Ryan.
Information couresy of Ed Tantorski